The Contracting Education Academy

Contracting Academy Logo
  • Home
  • Training & Education
  • Services
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / Archives for industry day

January 8, 2019 By AMK

Contracting workforce at forefront of Army savings

New Year’s resolutions take on many forms. Whether it’s kicking a bad habit, curbing meals to lose weight or perhaps a making a greater effort to keep in touch with family and friends beyond the occasional social media post, a new calendar year often begins with the best intentions. 
A contract specialist with the Mission and Installation Contracting Command (MICC) office at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston discusses Army contract opportunities with two local small business representatives during an industry outreach event in November at the University of Texas at San Antonio Procurement Technical Assistance Center in San Antonio. The event provided contracting guidance, briefings and breakout and match-making sessions with MICC contracting personnel. (Photo by Ryan L. Mattox)

Such intentions may also call for an evaluation of spending in hopes of socking away a little more in retirement accounts or building a coffer for future tuition needs of soon-to-be high school graduates. Similar efforts to save across the government also begin with individual resolutions and don’t necessarily require meticulous analysis.

Introduced as a replacement for the Army Suggestion Program, the Army Ideas for Innovation, or AI2, program became fully operation in 2017 and strives to capitalize on A innovative and creative solutions put forth by civilian and uniformed members of the service that contribute to cost savings, increased productivity and improved processes.

The call for innovative solutions by the government aimed at realizing cost savings isn’t necessarily a novel concept. In fact, a lesser known workforce goes about that task as its daily endeavor. Members of the Army Acquisition Corps possess a combination of requisite education, experience and certification levels vital in carrying out their duties to include contracting. They make up about 34 percent of the Army acquisition workforce consisting of approximately 38,500 professionals responsible for developing, acquiring, fielding and sustaining equipment and services to meet the Army’s present and emerging needs.

Contracting officers in the 1102 career series and Soldiers in the 51 Charlie military occupational specialty at the Mission and Installation Contracting Command make up a subset of the Army Acquisition Corps. They are responsible for acquiring equipment and services that support service members from the time they voluntarily raise their right hand in solemn oath to serve this nation through retirement as part of the Soldier for Life initiative.

In fiscal 2018, MICC contracting officers and Soldiers executed almost 30,000 contracts valued at more than $5 billion. This included contracts for professional scientific and technical services, administrate support, remediation services, construction, manufacturing, educational services, accommodations, food services, and utilities just to name a few. MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, ensuring installation readiness with many daily base operations support services, readying more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, training more than 500,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which governs processes for acquiring contract goods and services by the DoD as well as all executive agencies, serves as the bible for contracting professionals. It prescribes policies and procedures for negotiating contract awards using other than a sealed bid. By using one or a combination of source selection approaches, MICC contracting officers obtain the best value in a negotiated acquisition.

Employed by contracting officers every day, negotiation tactics can spell significant savings and increased benefit for the Army both on a smaller scale for relatively low-dollar buys through reverse auction as well as with complex acquisitions. As many government contractors discover, skillful negotiation benefits both their respective industry interests and the government as each strives for innovative pursuits to meet operational priorities and focused efforts.

The significant role by MICC contracting professionals in the transition of rotary aircraft maintenance services between contractors at Fort Rucker, Alabama, earlier this year illustrates the value the contracting workforce bares on the Army’s efforts to save costs. The innovative approach to the $4.7 billion contract presents the potential for 191,000 extra flight hours over the next 10 years, according to the GAO, estimated at a DoD benefit of $876 million.

MICC contracting professionals also contribute to government savings by reducing opportunity costs that take on a not-so-tangible form. Efforts by the command to standardize acquisitions for full food services and base operations this year offer enterprise-wide solutions for not only decreasing bid and proposal costs but also dramatically curbing touch labor and procurement acquisition lead time.

Not only does the contracting workforce save the Army money, but also those savings – both tangible and intangible – allows leadership from supported organizations to redirect those funds and resources toward other mission priorities. As trusted business advisers to their mission partners, MICC contracting professionals are dedicated to the timely delivery of contract goods and services in support of Soldiers and the Army’s commitment to readiness.

Source: https://www.dvidshub.net/image/5004231/contracting-workforce-forefront-army-savings

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition workforce, Army, cost savings, DoD, FAR, GS-1102, industry day, industry days, innovation, MICC, Mission Focused Contracting, outreach event, small business, source selection

December 3, 2018 By AMK

Georgia Tech hosting event promoting ‘defense innovation’ to be held on Jan. 14th

Companies who believe that they have the next key discovery or the next great idea that could benefit the Department of Defense (DoD) are invited to participate in a Georgia Tech-hosted event on Monday, January 14, 2019.

On that date, Georgia Tech’s Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC) will host a day-long event designed to benefit innovative small businesses – with priority given to small technology companies that have the potential to directly enhance achievement of DoD’s mission.

Lisa R. Sanders, Director of Science and Technology for U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), is a featured speaker at the Defense Innovation Conference.  (More details here: https://gtpac.org/2018/12/17/special-operations-science-and-technology-director-is-speaking-at-jan-14-gtpac-event)

Registration is now open at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creating-the-next-defense-innovation-conference-tickets-53056770228     Advance registration is required for this event; on-site registration will not be allowed.  The registration fee is $50.

By attending, companies will learn all about the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, the Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF), Other Transaction Authority (OTA) for prototype projects, and additional contracting vehicles aimed at attracting innovative companies to help the U.S. Department of Defense.

See promotional flyer here: Defense Innovation Conference – Jan. 14 2019 Event

Registration for the event is now open at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creating-the-next-defense-innovation-conference-tickets-53056770228

Full Agenda and Featured Speakers

An advance copy of the conference agenda is available here: Agenda – Defense Innovation Conference – 01.14.2019 – Final.

Biographical sketches of all the featured speakers is available here: Featured Speakers – Defense Innovation Conference 01.14.2019.

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: breakthrough, contracting opportunities, Creating the Next, Defense Innovation Conference, DoD, Georgia Tech, GTPAC, industry day, innovation, OTA, RIF, save the date, SBIR, small business, STTR, technology

April 14, 2015 By AMK

Navy launches ‘Innovation Cell’ to speed IT acquisition

It’s almost accepted as a truism in the modern era that the federal acquisition system simply isn’t up to the challenge of buying information technology. But IT leaders in the Navy suspect the problem isn’t so much the regulatory scheme itself, but the way it’s historically been applied to technology purchases.

Navy logoTo test that premise, on Thursday, the Navy’s program executive office for enterprise information systems will formally launch what it terms its Innovation Cell, a nascent effort to begin rapidly inserting relevant commercial technologies into Navy networks without a single change to the Federal Acquisition Regulation. PEO- EIS will begin by presenting industry with three “enterprise challenge statements” at an industry day in Tysons Corner, Virginia, one focused on big data analytics, another on enhanced virtual desktops and one seeking an end-user productivity suite.

“There are too many products that you can go down to Best Buy and purchase today, but we don’t have in our enterprise,” Capt. Paul Ghyzel, the deputy program executive officer, said in an interview with Federal News Radio previewing the innovation cell. “It’s for various reasons. Some of them, like security, are valid, but in other cases, it’s just that the model we use to acquire them today doesn’t lend itself to taking advantage to what’s already in the marketplace. When we build the next generation of aircraft carrier, we have to make the investment. In IT, the commercial companies are already making the investment, and we need to leverage that.”

The “cell” is more a framework than a physical place, and will serve several functions in the Navy’s acquisition ecosystem, officials said.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/885/3824927/On-DoD-Navy-launches-Innovation-Cell-to-speed-IT-acquisition

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: industry day, innovation, Innovation Cell, IT, technology

Popular Topics

abuse acquisition reform acquisition strategy acquisition training acquisition workforce Air Force Army AT&L bid protest budget budget cuts competition cybersecurity DAU DFARS DHS DoD DOJ FAR fraud GAO Georgia Tech GSA GSA Schedule GSA Schedules IG industrial base information technology innovation IT Justice Dept. Navy NDAA OFPP OMB OTA Pentagon procurement reform protest SBA sequestration small business spending technology VA
Contracting Academy Logo
75 Fifth Street, NW, Suite 300
Atlanta, GA 30308
info@ContractingAcademy.gatech.edu
Phone: 404-894-6109
Fax: 404-410-6885

RSS Twitter

Search this Website

Copyright © 2023 · Georgia Tech - Enterprise Innovation Institute